Your Refrigerator: the Ultimate Party Organiser

As a gracious host or hostess, you want to embellish your parties with a snazzy spread, but preparing it can take a lot of time and effort. Fortunately, your fridge can be more than a place to keep food cold—it’s also the ultimate organiser. Try these helpful hints that let your refrigerator do some of the work.

2-3 Days Ahead: Everything Must Go

Before you start filling the fridge with appetizers, be sure to clear enough space. Toss anything that’s past its shelf life to make room for party essentials.

1-2 Days Ahead: Prepare Snacks

Items like sliced vegetables can stand a couple of days of storage and remain fresh, so get them chopped and ready to go well in advance. Store them in zip-top bags in the appropriate refrigerator section: Samsung’s Twin Cooling Plus technology keeps them fresh by controlling the temperature and humidity of the refrigerated and freezer compartments individually. Each compartment features its own cooling unit, so air doesn’t circulate between the fridge and freezer, keeping odours from spreading. This feature also maintains a practically consistent 75 percent humidity—perfect for keeping food in tip-top condition.

The Big Day: Get Organised

Adjust the internal shelving to accommodate beverages, trays, cakes or larger items like a roast or turkey. Samsung refrigerators feature a variety of options to let you customise and maximise internal storage space. Some models feature long, removable trays that span the width of the refrigerator and can go directly from the refrigerator to the table, saving you time and cutting down on dirty dishes. Samsung’s Z Shelf is a flexible shelf designed to hold cans, large bottles and other bulky items, and its Wine Shelf stores bottles properly on their side while preventing them from rolling.

Before the first guests arrive, place clean glassware near the refrigerator doors so guests can get ice directly from the in-door dispenser—far more elegant space-hogging buckets or, worse, plastic bags from the grocery store. Don’t worry if your tumblers are oversized: Samsung’s in-door ice dispenser accommodates tall glassware.

During the Event: The Refrigerator as Focal Point

Party guests like to huddle in the kitchen, so let your fridge work as an informational signpost. Use magnets (or if the door is stainless steel, tape) to attach notes directing guests to beverages, ice, water, trash and recycling bins, and—crucially—bathrooms.

Ice can run short—especially in hot weather—so be sure to monitor the supply as the party progresses. Samsung’s ClearView Ice Maker makes it easy with a see-through bin.

The Aftermath

Toss refrigerator trays in the dishwasher and stash leftovers back in the fridge (since there will be plenty of room for them). As for the rest of the mess? Leave it for morning and get some sleep.